Empty gestures
from pro athletes
A person would need to live under a rock not to know that human tragedies happen every day in our society. Bad things happen to good people. People die from curable diseases, families become homeless, children go hungry, people are murdered and yes, both police and citizens die needlessly during enforcement.
We don’t need awareness, we need resources. Athletes who kneel, wear slogans and refuse to do their jobs aren’t helping; they are adding to the divisiveness. Athletes who demonstrate the “me, me” culture of game checks bigger than most people’s annual salaries should truly show they care and want to help. Cancel the season and collaborate with nonprofits, churches and government and donate 100% of this year’s salaries and profits to those organizations that desperately need resources and are actually working to make a real difference.
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Its easy to use your “platform” for meaningless actions. Show your true heart and concern, contribute real actions and your resources.
TJ Johnson
Oro Valley
Discord reinforces need for change
We live again in a time of social discontent. I’m old enough to remember other times when we’ve gone through periods like this. When America was lucky enough to have competent, compassionate presidents, those men worked very hard to calm the anger.
This president has had several opportunities while on his watch (Charlottesville, Minneapolis, Nashville, Atlanta, Portland, Kenosha and others) to try to calm the anger, but instead he has chosen to further inflame emotions with his rhetoric, blame the troubles on others, and then promising things will get better if he’s reelected. Perhaps he’s planning on even more military tactics like we would expect in China, Russia, North Korea and other countries with strongmen this president admires. It’s really time for a change.
Charles Gilmore
Southeast side
Presidential debates require new rules
Re: the Aug. 28 letter “Don’t want to see candidates interact.”
This builds on the fine letter by Victor and Barbara Panizzon.
Now both conventions are over. The next steps, beginning Sept. 29, are the presidential debates. Looking back at 2016 and the last presidential debates, I think the networks and the moderators who present these debates need to institute some new ground rules: mute the microphone of the candidate who does not have the floor, avoid broadcasting videos of the reaction of the candidate who is not speaking, and require that both candidates stand at their own respective podiums, not wandering over behind the opponent for the purpose of intimidation.
These measures will minimize distraction of the person who has the floor by boorish and inconsiderate behavior of the candidate who does not. Abuse of these guidelines should result in termination of the offending candidate’s participation in the debate.
Ken Shearer
Northeast side
Payroll tax holiday enriches president
I’ve always wondered how much more corruption the American electorate must take from President Trump. He signed an executive order to have a payroll tax holiday deferring payroll taxes from Sept. 30 to the end of the year and he wants to have the taxes owed permanently forgiven. Considering how many employees that Trump, his family and his companies have, the “permanent” forgiving of those owed taxes would not only save the Trumps millions of dollars, but dump the expense of the forgiveness on those on Social Security.
The 20% cut expected in 2035 would come earlier for Social Security recipients in order to make sure people like Trump and his rich friends are even more well off. This is another abuse of presidential power by Trump. He is not trying to drain the swamp.
He is trying to drain the futures of workers and Social Security recipients for the benefit of himself, his family and the well off. “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
Matt Somers
Midtown
‘Winning issue’
a loser for cities
President Trump believes that he has found his winning issue for the November elections: The notion that only he can bring the hammer down and subdue what he defines as lawlessness in Democrat-run cities.
This disregards the fact that all this unrest is happening on his watch, and his rhetoric and on-the-ground efforts to dominate that unrest have only inflamed the violence.
Trump has no desire for the cities to become peaceful. Having taken note that the unrest is whittling away public support for the Black Lives Matter movement and for efforts to solve the problems of systemic racism in policing, he believes that the unrest benefits him. He thus has no motive to work to bring about calm.
Look for Mr. Trump to continue using inflammatory rhetoric and threats of federal intervention to sell his notion that he is a strong leader keeping people safe. Look for him to throw more gasoline on the already burning fires between now and November.
Paul Ottley
Midtown
Protesters in DC
torpedo their cause
After the conclusion of President Trump’s nomination acceptance speech and amazingly fantastic fireworks show in Washington, D.C., dozens of Black Lives Matter protesters, not social-distancing and some not wearing masks, confronted Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and his wife as they were walking to their hotel. The protesters shoved an officer on a bicycle, who fell onto Paul.
They were shouting at him “say her name, Breonna Taylor.” Paul said it was ironic as he has introduced legislation in the name of Breonna Taylor to end “no knock” police raids. Paul also said they were shouting threats to him and his wife.
The BLM protesters assaulted police officers, throwing objects at them. Five were charged with assaulting an officer and others charged with destruction of property. This is exactly the kind of chaos and violence that Trump and Republicans have been continually denouncing for months, but Democrats like Joe Biden, until this week, have been silent about it. Previously calling them “peaceful protests.”
Charles Tach
SaddleBrooke
GOP convention
lacked decorum
I was disgusted by President Trump’s use of the White House as a backdrop for the Republican National Convention. These buildings and lands belong to all the people, not just the Republicans. This administration has a complete disregard for the rules of fairness.
The Hatch Act requirement that no government employees be used to further political purposes was enacted so there was a level playing field for all candidates. The incumbent should not be able to use his/her current position and government paid office space and staff to further his/her ambition. It was also to prevent elected officials from coercing their government employees to campaign for them.
Government employees can do that on their own time. Did the Cabinet members, sitting in the front row of the audience, take vacation time to attend? Did we pay them their salary to attend?
I look forward to the day when decency, fairness, rules and laws apply to everyone, including our elected officials.
Margot Garcia, former elected official
Midtown
McSally silent
on BLM director
The withdrawal of William Perry Pendley’s nomination to become the director of the Bureau of Land Management was great news for outdoor enthusiasts. Yet he is still serving as the interim director. Senators from across the country have called for his removal. However, there is one senator that continues to remain silent about William Perry Pendley: Martha McSally.
Pendley was a controversial pick because of his conflict as a former oil industry attorney and his calls for the federal government to sell off public lands. Given the fact that it is the Senate’s job to confirm his nomination, it would only be fair that McSally share that position with Arizona voters.
Regardless of your political party or views on public lands management, this is unacceptable. The BLM needs to be led by a director who is confirmed by the Senate. One that has been vetted through a normal confirmation process and gives senators and citizens the ability to see where they stand on agency issues.
Nate Rees
South Tucson
White House used
as a political prop
So the president of the United States can use the people’s house, the White House, to conduct political gatherings for his reelection? He’s obviously traveled during COVID-19 to rallies and political trips prior to his acceptance of the Republican nomination for president. And how is it legal for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to use taxpayers’ money to travel to Israel and perform a political speech endorsing the president on foreign soil?
When did the lines between political rallies and use of government employees’ time and property get blurred? I will tell you when: when this president took office. He has eroded the foundation of our democracy, from appointing family members and others to key posts for which they weren’t qualified to using his office to endorse products/companies that supported him, like the MyPillow guy and owner of Goya products.
It is time to take our government back and give it to the people — all of the people, not just the cronies who support this administration.
Terri Hicks
Northwest side
Love versus fear
in Washington
Who showed more concern about the health and well-being and freedom of the people of this country this week? At the GOP convention hundreds of people attended with no temperature checks and were seated close to one another, few if any of them wearing masks. At the March on Washington 2020, thousands of people walked miles after mandatory temperature checks to be part of an event celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to civil rights for all.
Apparently those at the march, unlike the convention attendees, didn’t feel that their freedom consists of not wearing a mask; everyone who I could see in the news clips — all thousands of them — had on masks!
Another difference was that at the GOP convention, many of the speeches focused on fear. At the march, the speakers I heard focused on love.
Becky Schulman
Foothills
Biden needs
to channel Gandhi
Donald Trump has seized on law and order as the only issue he can run with; Biden has done nothing to counter the charge that Democrats are soft on mayhem. We can say what we will about systematic racism and police brutality, but violence in the streets will only allow Trump to declare martial law and walk away with the next four years of tyranny.
Joe Biden must go to the cities where protests have turned violent and preach the gospel of nonviolence. It will do no good to give a speech condemning violence; he needs to go there and tell them to knock it off in the name of decency and the American way. Democracy requires the expression of grievances, but not the burning of vehicles and the looting of shops.
If Gandhi could get the British out of India through nonviolent protest; Biden can surly get a petty tyrant out of the White House the same way.
Tony Maitland
Marana